Division I Men

UnCensered: Six Players Who Must Rise to the Occasion in NCAA
Final Four

Denver midfielder Cameron Flint represents an emerging
prototype of the dominant lacrosse player who grew up with
fine-tuned stick skills playing box lacrosse and then thrives with
athleticism in the high-end field game -- a combination that makes
him as dangerous as any player in this weekend's NCAA
championships, writes Joel Censer.

I remember my first NCAA championship weekend in 2000. I was an
awkward eighth grader -- the big news that spring was I had my
braces removed -- and my dad and I went up to College Park to watch
the title game between Syracuse and Princeton. I was also a
lacrosse neophyte, just learning how to throw and catch, not
knowing the first thing about inverts or offset heads.

Looking back at that championship game, I don't remember much.
The Tigers were a year away (Damien Davis, Brad Dumont, Owen Daly,
etc., were just freshmen), and the Orange, led by Liam Banks' six
goals and Ryan Powell's bull-dodging routine, rolled to a 13-7 win.
Despite having to sit on concrete steps (this was before NFL
stadiums were the venue of choice), I still had my championship
t-shirt and some overpriced chicken tenders to leave happy.

A year later, I could tell the difference between a first and
second slide, and was 100 percent hooked. I recorded that
rain-soaked 2001 Princeton-Syracuse championship game rematch on
VHS and watched Davis strip Mikey Powell in mid-stride and Ryan
Boyle throw that spot feed to B.J. Prager in overtime so many times
that the tape begin to skip. As I got older and my friends began to
see Memorial Day weekend as an opportunity to go to the beach, I
continued to drive up and down I-95 -- to Philly, Baltimore and
Boston -- tailgating and taking in the games.

I was certainly treated to my fair share of awe-inspiring
moments. Orange defenseman John Glatzel picking off a pass and
sending a 60-yard bomb to Josh Coffman for a goal in Syracuse's
12-11 double-OT win over Virginia in the 2002 semifinal.
Salisbury's Josh Bergey, Andy Murray and Eric Martin battling
Middlebury's Mike Sarceni, Greg Bastis and Ed Brown on a
rain-soaked grass field the following year. Paul Rabil cementing
his Frank Urso/Del Dressel- like legacy by pouring in six goals for
Hopkins in a 13-10 loss to the Orange in the 2008 final.

Now, having transitioned from the nosebleeds (when I was able to
get out of the parking lot and to the games, that is) to the comfy
press box confines, I'm still as giddy for this weekend as I was as
a wide-eyed high school kid. And grateful that in lacrosse, close
to 100,000 people carrying everything from gas grills to
fiddlesticks, can come together for love of sport.

Here are six players I think will play a big role this
weekend.

6. Bray Malphrus, senior defenseman, Virginia

Malphrus has always been a bruiser who made most of his
headlines for physical play (taking Billy Bitter's head off in last
year's Big City Classic; playing with a wooden stick in a fall
tournament). But after getting moved from long stick midfield to
close defense (the faster, more athletic Chris Clements was better
suited for that role) after the Duke game, the senior captain has
been key to the Cavaliers' late-season renaissance. Against
Cornell, he was matched up against Rob Pannell in man-to-man
situations and helped lead a stifling zone defense that held the
Big Red to nearly four goals below its average.

This weekend, I have a feeling the Georgetown Prep product will
be tasked with guarding Denver's Mark Matthews, a 6'4" 220-pound
slab of Canadian box talent, and again be the point guy when the
Cavaliers go to their now patented zone -- I know, it feels weird
just typing it -- against a combustible Pioneer offense. Malphrus
will also be vital in cleaning up the clearing game, an area where
the Wahoos (21-of-28) frankly struggled at times against the Big
Red.

5. Garret Ince, senior faceoff midfielder, Virginia

Ince's tenure in Charlottesville has been interesting. An
Ontario native with box experience, Ince spent his prep years at
New England's Salisbury School, making a name for himself at the
Under Armour All-American game where he pumped in four goals and
took home MVP honors. Instead of bringing burly pick-and-roll
bonafides to the Cavalier offense, however, Ince has instead been
relegated to the faceoff "X" his entire career. There, he's been
hot and cold the past four years, but this season has arguably
emerged as the most consistent option for the Cavaliers (52
percent).

Against Denver, the Canuck (along with fellow faceoff guys Brian
McDermott and Ryan Benincasa) will face one of their toughest
challenges yet. Because the Pioneers aren't just effective at
crouching and clamping (although Chase Carrarro is plenty good at
that), but with Jeremy Noble and long stick Jamie Macdonald (a
Salisbury teammate of Ince's) patrolling the wings, they're also
wildly athletic and dogged in their pursuit of ground balls.

Hopkins' Matt Dolente learned that the hard way last weekend
when he ran into the buzzsaw. If Ince and company want to fare
well, it's going to require not only winning the draw (or at the
very least preventing transition), but also being able to run
effectively away from pressure.

4. Cameron Flint, sophomore midfielder, Denver

Flint bursted, literally, onto the national scene in the NCAA
quarterfinals against Hopkins in a way we haven't seen a midfielder
do since Syracuse's Matt Abbott exploded for three goals in the
2008 semifinals.

For me, watching Flint carve up the Hopkins defense, I couldn't
help but think that we were witnessing the future of lacrosse
training and what happens when a special athlete, having spent his
formative lax years playing indoors in Canada, is later exposed to
high-end field lacrosse. (Like Ince, Flint is an Ontario native who
played at the Salisbury School.)

I don't think Flint, who finished with three goals against the
Blue Jays, will have the same ample opportunities he had last week.
Certainly he won't get to dodge past Dolente clones (with a bunch
of late slides) ever again. And I'm not sure how Denver plans to
attack a zone.

But I'm excited to see how he responds to the increased
attention. Because someone who is that good of an athlete and who
is that skilled around the net is unique, and a new sort of
protoype in today's game.

3. Jamie Faus, freshman goalkeeper, Denver

I admit I thought the Cavs were done post-Brattons. But after
seeing Steele Stanwick and the rest of the UVA offense spit the
Cornell defense out like they were VMI, count me a believer.

We know the 'Hoos are going to score goals. The question, then,
is can Denver make it difficult and make them less efficient? It
goes without saying that Faus (57 percent), a freshman netminder
who has been nearly rock solid most of the year, is going to have
ignore the 40- to 50-plus thousand fans and save some of his best
lacrosse for this weekend.

2. Greg DeLuca, sophomore midfielder, Duke

Make no mistake about it: the ACC grudge match between Duke and
Maryland is going to be won and lost between the stripes.

It's not often mentioned, but the Blue Devils haven't been very
good facing off the past few games, and star long stick/resident
draw man C.J Costabile is knicked up. He did most of his faceoff
work from the wings in the Blue Devils' NCAA quarterfinal win over
Notre Dame.

DeLuca, a 6'2" 200-pound specimen who never met a truck stick he
didn't like, took the majority of draws, going just 3-for-9 on the
day. Regardless of who lines up there, the Blue Devils are going
need an answer for Terps technician Curtis Holmes, who went on an
18-for-24, Mike McDermott-like heater the last time these two teams
met in the ACC championship.

If Duke wants some opportunities in the unsettled (where it
thrives) and to prevent Maryland's own lethal transition game --
not to mention have some say in the pace of the game (the Blue
Devils have always been better when it's up and down) -- it's going
to have to start with their crouch-and-clamp guys.

1. Joe Cummings, junior midfielder, Maryland

Let's get one thing immediately out of the way: Duke's going to
score more goals than Syracuse last week. First, the Blue Devils
don't have the talent the Orange had on the defensive end, meaning
the game won't come to a grinding halt. Not to mention with Jordan
Wolf and Zach Howell at attack and a stable full of athletic
midfielders who can break guys down, the Dookies are about 10 times
scarier than the Orange in half-field offense.

So for Maryland to keep up, it must manufacture goals in a lot
of different ways. The Terps have been successful in transition and
in using two- and three-man games in the settled offense. Who
knows? Maybe they have another hidden-ball trick in 'em.

But I think the key is Cummings. He's not a natural split
dodger, but in a way that's representative of this entire Terrapin
group. He's crafty, knows his strengths and has found his role as a
gritty, opportunistic scorer. He struggled last week against 'Cuse
(scoreless with two turnovers) and has nursed an injured hand. But
the Terps need him to do his best Matt Poskay impression to
win.